On a whim, I bought two tickets to see Paris Combo tomorrow night at the Somerville Theater. What can I say? I have a weakness for French lounge music, and Belle du Berry('s voice) awakens rare and strange primal memories for me. Yes, I am that odd.

So all things considered, having tickets is great... except for the fact that what I read as "balcony row HH" (the first balcony row) was actually "balcony row MM." As a rule of thumb, I try to avoid the balcony at the Somerville because the seats there are spaced with the assumption that everyone - with the exception of those people seated in the comparatively luxurious row HH - has had both their legs lopped off below the knee. Princess Bing can back me up on this. The space between the edge of the seat and the back of the seat in front of you is, at best, an inch and a half. The world music crowd isn't much for standing through a whole show, either. The evening promises to be a balance between being transported by the music, and learning new ways to contort my hulking form into a space that was never meant for a real human being.

It's a different kind of suffering for art.